🏮 Hakodate Goryokaku Sai

箱館五稜郭祭

Hakodate, Hokkaido (Goryokaku) · 16 and 17 May 2026

244 days to go
Rooms around Hakodate, Hokkaido fill up while the festival is on.

The Hakodate Goryokaku Festival is a historical festival held in Hakodate, Hokkaido, organized by the Hakodate Goryokaku Festival Sponsorship Association. In 2026 it will mark its 57th edition over two days, May 16 and 17. Its purpose is to pass on to the next generation the history of the Boshin War and the Hakodate War, and the thoughts of the people who lived in this place. It is supported by Hakodate City and the Hakodate Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with cooperation from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force 28th Infantry Regiment and 11th Band. As the festival's central events, a Toshizo Hijikata Contest, in which participants dressed as the late-Edo-period patriot Toshizo Hijikata compete, and a Chibikko Hijikata Collection for elementary school children and younger are held. Through these events, visitors can encounter the footsteps of the "last samurai" who lived in this place from the turbulent end of the Edo period into the Meiji era, and feel Hakodate's history close at hand.